106 VILLA GAEDENING part i 



Castries, white, scarlet eye ; Countess of Breadalbane, crimson ; 

 Coccinea, scarlet ; Dr. La Croix, rosy jDurple ; David Syme, white, 

 magenta eye ; Duchess of Sutherland, white ; Edith, white, car- 

 mine eye ; Gladstone, rosy lake ; John Forbes, -prnk, crimson eye ; 

 Jean d'Arc, white ; Liervalli, rose, striped white ; Madame de 

 Stael, pink, carmine eye ; Moonlight, rose ; Mons. Van Houtte, 

 crimson, dark ej^e ; Pericles, salmon red, carmine eye ; Madame 

 Peulet, white, crimson eye ; Princess of Wales, rose, carmine eye ; 

 Roi des Roses, rosy salmon ; Splendour, crimson, jmrple eye ; 

 Virgo Marie, white ; William Veitch, white, crimson eye ; Zingari, 

 scarlet, salmon eye. 



Pentstemons. — A vast improvement has been effected by 

 modern florists in this family. In 1845 I remember P. gen- 

 tianoides, the parent of the present race, was thought much of 

 as a bedding plant. Then about 1848 came the white variety, 

 P. g. alba, and about the same time was brought out a rose- 

 coloured variety, with a white throat, called P. g. MacEwani ; 

 but it is only quite recently that the impetus was given which has 

 made the Pentstemons the handsome family they now are. They 

 are easily raised from seeds, and the seetUings all possess a deco- 

 rative value. They are everybody's flowers, for, though scarcely 

 hardy enough to stand a severe winter, yet a small amount of 

 protection saves them. 



Cuttings root freely at any season when growth is in progress 

 and young side shoots can be obtained. In the spring they may 

 be placed in the hotbed with other soft things, but in summer 

 and autumn they will root under a handlight, or in a cold frame, 

 and cuttings or seedlings raised in spring flower profusely the 

 same season. I saw in a friend's garden lately a large border of 

 seedling Pentstemons, which had been planted merely for their 

 decorative value ; but though raised in the ordinary way from 

 purchased seeds, the mass contained many pretty varieties, such as 

 woidd have been selected and named a few years ago. Those who 

 are tired of the glare of the Pelargonium will appreciate the softer 

 tints and the greater variety of the Pentstemon, and the broken 

 surface of the mass comes as a great relief after a formal bed 

 arranged with mathematical precision. Everybody shoidd grow 

 some of them, and should save seeds from the best flowers. But 

 for the purpose of perpetuating any particular variety cuttings 

 alone must be employed, as seedlings break off" in all directions 

 from their parents. If the cutthigs are dibbled thinly in a cold 

 frame, or under handlights or cloches in August, and are left under 

 the protection of the glass till April, and then planted out in the 

 beds, they do not give much trouble, and will be sure to succeed 



